An outdoor refrigerator can be the finishing touch you need in your outdoor kitchen. If you host guests often, an outdoor fridge is a must! Here are four ways you can add outdoor refrigeration to your patio.

Outdoor Kitchen Refrigerator Ideas - Mini Fridges

Two mini fridges - outdoor refrigerator ideas

If you’re looking to build a large outdoor kitchen, it may be best to get a mid-sized refrigerator. This will make for fewer trips back and forth to the main indoor kitchen and allow everything to be outside. They’re easy to build into your outdoor kitchen counters. Smaller kitchens may want to opt for a small mini-fridge.

The placement of your refrigerator should be ideally close to your main grilling and cooking station. That way, you won’t accidentally drop those delicious 24-hour marinated steaks!

Double fridge built in to lower cabinets

If you have other stainless steel appliances in your outdoor kitchen, a stainless steel refrigerator would fit right in. They also make fridges with glass fronts, which could be a cool addition to your outdoor kitchen. Just something to think about!

Two hoods over island with large refrigerator

You can easily incorporate mini-fridges into your kitchen island or counter underneath the countertop. The placement of this particular fridge doesn't matter too much, so it often gets placed at the end of the island or bar. It’s nice if the fridge is next to a sink in case of a spill. Late summer night barbecues just aren’t the same without a mini-fridge.

Range hood over grill with wooden backsplash

Wine Coolers

We may have spoken a little too soon. If you want to be posh and fancy, wine coolers are the way to go. But, can’t you store your wine in the beer fridge? Well, wine coolers differ from beer fridges in one simple manner: wine is best stored on its side, or facing down.

There’s a reason they’re positioned that way at the liquor store. Wine coolers also generally have racks in the cooler, so you can easily place your bottles in the cooler and find them easily when you need to crack them open.

If you have to pick between a beer fridge and a wine cooler, you should ask yourself what you and your family drink more. It may make sense to have one over the other!

If you can only fit one in your outdoor space, a regular mini-fridge may be the better option. You can purchase wine racks to store in your mini-fridge, and you’ll still be able to put a six-pack of beer in there.

Outdoor Freezers

Outdoor freezers are potentially the last cooling system you’d have for your outdoor kitchen. This can be one of the easiest appliances to include. Freezers come in all sorts of shapes in sizes.

If a freezer didn’t fit in the woodworks of your kitchen, you can always plug it in by the outer walls and have a deep freezer apart from the kitchen.

If it does fit into the woodworks of your kitchen, it’s probably off to the side. It doesn’t need to be front and center like a grill or your outdoor refrigerator. The tradeoff of putting your freezer in your kitchen design is your freezer is likely going to be smaller unless you're plugging a lot of money into your outdoor kitchen.

This is acceptable since your kitchen doesn't need a conventional sized freezer anyways, unless you’re going to be cooking outdoors every day.

Another option is to place a deep freezer or second freezer in your garage or your basement. Some homes have second freezers already, so you can add this with ease.

Temporary Coolers

These are more for parties, but a temporary refrigerator is a great addition. Pinterest is a great source to DIY a classy temporary refrigerator.

All you’ll need to do is fill it with ice every time guests come over, and you’ll be ready to host a crowd! Here are some ideas. You can even use old broken freezers or fridges on their sides. They still have the insulating factor!

That’s it for outdoor refrigeration ideas! Hopefully you’ve been able to get some ideas on how to build your outdoor kitchen and add in some conventional and unconventional refrigeration methods. Beer fridges, wine coolers, freezers, and full-size refrigerators will all help to make your second kitchen feel like a first kitchen. You won’t regret putting any of those in your design.

If you’re looking for more inspiration, head on over to our Pinterest page. We have two boards there specifically for outdoor kitchen design and backyard landscaping. Check them out, and give us a follow! We update these boards and all of our Pinterest boards daily, so there will always be new ideas ready for you.

We’ll see you next time!

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